Ineptitude from The Denver Post

At least six media outlets quickly issued a story on the February 10, 2016 release of DUI/DUID arrest statistics by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP).  Consistent with past practice, all of the media outlets ignored impairment by controlled substances other than marijuana, perpetuating the myth that DUID is all about marijuana.  Although their reports focused solely on marijuana, reports and headlines of Fox News, The Colorado Springs Gazette and North Denver News were accurate.

All of the stories were written based upon the following CSP data:

The CSP report lists DUI citations, including the notations by the arresting officers indicating what the cause of the DUI was suspected to be, based upon evidence found at the scene.  Laboratory verification of drug presence was not included in any of the reported numbers.

CSP reports both proactive and reactive citations.  Reactive citations are written in response to a crash that the CSP responds to.  Proactive citations are issued by officers who make a traffic stop based upon observations of driving behavior.  The number of reactive citations were nearly identical in 2014 and 2015: 1,369 and 1,360 respectively.  But there was a 23.7% drop in the number of proactive citations, resulting in an 18.0% drop in total DUI citations. 

All things being equal, since the number of citations dropped, one might expect that DUID citations would drop 18% as well, rather than the mere 1.3% reported for both DUI overall, as well as DUI involving marijuana. As a result, DUID percentage of total CSP DUI citations jumped from 15.8% to 19.0%.  None in the news media commented on this anomaly, although North Denver News correctly reported that DUI  citations related to marijuana rose from 12.2% to 14.6%.

CBS Channel 4 news published an Associated Press story incorrectly, stating that there were more than 1,000 citations involving marijuana or marijuana-related offenses.  The actual number was 665. This is dwarfed by the number of arrests due to alcohol intoxication. 

ABC’s Channel 7’s headline claimed, “Colorado State Patrol wrote 1,012 marijuana-related citations in 2015.”  The CSP report actually stated that total marijuana-related citations were 665, which included 347 where marijuana was the sole intoxicant found.  Adding the two yields 1,012, which is correct arithmetic, but shows a lack of understanding of the report.

But The Denver Post’s Noelle Phillips tops both CBS and ABC for ineptitude, as the paper continues its biased reporting which attempts to paint Colorado’s widespread use of marijuana as benign.  Let’s catalog the Post’s failings in their February 11, 2016 article:

1. Headline: “Down in ’15: driving while high.” No, this is just the CSP report.  CSP issues approximately one out of five of the state’s DUI citations.
2. Subheadline: “The State Patrol arrested fewer people than in 2014 for the pot charge.” No, the citation was for DUI.  There is no “pot charge” for driving in Colorado. 
3. “665 people had marijuana in their systems.” No, the lab results were not reported.  These were merely officer notes, based on the evidence at the scene.
4. Colorado’s 5 ng THC limit is “a presumptive only.” No, as we pointed out to the author and the editor of the Post last month, it is a permissible inference.  The Colorado Supreme Court has prohibited statutory presumptions of guilt.
5. The 5 ng limit has been rejected in court. No, a failed prosecution does not invalidate the statute.  This error was made by the author in a January report as well.  She was corrected, and ignored the correction.
6. The Colorado State Patrol began testing 5 devices to help troopers detect whether drivers are too high to be behind the wheel. No, the devices detect and document the presence of a variety of drugs.  Proof of presence is not proof of impairment.